Best Texas Ethnic Food Festivals

[Richard Kilgore]

There are some ethnic festivals with a long tradition, such as the annual Greek festival in Dallas. There are, of course, newer festivals that have emerged in recent years. Some focus on food only, but most feature food as a prominent and important part of their culture. What are your favorites and where and when do they happen?

[lovebenton0]

How about Wurstfest in New Braunfels? Every fall, October, if I remember right. I haven't been down there lately but we used to go every year. Lots of German sausage and German beer, some weinerschnitzel and oompah music.

[dav-e-o]

Being from Austin, you have to search hard to find much in the way of ehtnic festivals, but every spring the Thai festival at Fiesta Gardens on Town Lake does good for quenching the thirst for festival style street-food.

Also, although food tends to be a bit over-priced, the Meditteranean Festival at the Eastern Orthodox Church in downtown does a decent job.

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks lovebenton0 and dav-e-o.

If anyone has links to any of the festival websites that would be great.

What about the Center for Texan Cultures in San Antonio. Don't they have a big festival each year?

[markf424]

While this isn't an actual festival event, here's a link from the Austin Chronicle regarding celebrating Thai Songkran in Austin:

Chronicle Link

[RebeccaT]

The Greek Festival Houston, at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral near Montrose, is always a lot of fun. The food is pretty standard issue Greek (pastisto, spanikopita, tiropita, soulvaki, Greek salad, dolmathes, etc.) but that doesn't stop it from being good! The pastries are awesome, the women of the church spend weeks making them. My favorite are the Kourambiedes, which are a sandy shortbread-type cookie dusted with powdered sugar

http://www.greekfestival.org/

[theabroma]

There are, of course, festivals for the Cinco de Mayo (coming up here in just a bit), and for the Dieciseis de Septiembre. These are celebrated in most of the major cities of Texas, and as you get down towards the border, many of the little towns have celebrations as well. Papers like the Observer and Chronicle are good about listing these events.

I'll see what I can dig up on the Cinco de Mayo and post it as I find (or don't find, as the case may be) it.

Also, the Spring, Fall, and Winter Festivals in Round Top, near Bryan and just north of Houston have traditionally been celebrations of the lives of the early German settlers in the area ... including a working smokehouse.

Czech Festival in West, Texas over Labor Day weekend includes traditional music, dance, and food. Unfortunately, the beer is commercial ... nobody seems to do the homebrew anymore! Great sausages from Nemecek's in West.

Theabroma

[RedQueen]

What about the Center for Texan Cultures in San Antonio. Don't they have a big festival each year?

The Texas Folklife Festival is held every year at the Institute of Texan Cultures. This year it is June 10-13. It is one gigantic eat-a-thon...you gotta love an event that pretty much exists just to showcase foods from 45 cultures. Well, I guess the culture is showcased too, but I go mostly for the lumpia, scotch eggs, gorditas....ahhhh. And thank goodness San Antonio finally took pity on us weather wimps by moving the festival to June for we who could no longer bear the temps in August. Although, March or November would be even better IMHO...

[theabroma]

And thank goodness San Antonio finally took pity on us weather wimps by moving the festival to June for we who could no longer bear the temps in August. Although, March or November would be even better IMHO...

Red Queen, are there plans to organize a group event around the festival? Would you let us know? I may have to buy stock in the company that mfgs AlkaSeltzer!

Theabroma

[brngckn]

Wurstfest

Houston International Festival

Germanfest - this weekend!

Edited April 20, 2004 by brngckn (log)

[franktex]

I put in many years on Houston's Festa Italiana, and thought it was a pretty good festival. It has since ceased to be(political in-fighting-imagine that), but I understand that a much smaller, SIcilian Festival is having their second annual sometime soon.

It is supposed to be where the original Festa Italiana started, off I-45/ Airline(E. Whitney St.), and it is currently a great place for spaghetti on Thursdays(the only day they serve)!

[theabroma]

San Antonio. This weekend. Fiesta on the River Walk ... and many other parts of town.

Theabroma

[theabroma]

The following is a reference to a companion site to Texas Cooking. It has a search/listing by region, or month, etc. of festivals all over Texas. The reference below is to May 2004 activities, with several references to Cinco de Mayo events, and, of course, the unforgettable Crab Festival Golf Tournament - one can only hope they eat the crabs instead of trying to par with them.

It's handy and well worth a look-seee.

http://texana.texascooking.com/cal/db/inde...eriod=36&step=3

Theabroma